Director of the International Centre for Asset Recovery at the Basel Institute on Governance about cooperation with the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine in investigating financial crimes of the Yanukovych regime, effective tools to search for stolen assets, and mechanisms of international interaction in financial intelligence

Rinat Akhmetov, Vladimir Putin and Viktor Yanukovych continue to weave plots for Eastern Ukraine, making the rebels with black-and-orange ribbons think that they are dying for a New Russia, not for oligarchic interests

There are reasons to believe that officers of the Federal Security Service of Russian Federation (FSB) were involved in the planning and implementation of the so-called antiterrorist operations in Kyiv during the mass protests on Maidan in February, Ukrainian Security Service Chief (SBU) Valentyn Nalyvaichenko said during the press-conference on April, 3rd.

Andrew Wilson is a Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and a permanent Reader in Ukrainian Studies at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), University College London. He shared his views with The Ukrainian Week on the prospects for rapid reform in Ukraine, on the inadequate reaction of the West to the usurpation of power by Viktor Yanukovych and the absence of the rule of law, both under the Orange government and under that of Yanukovych.

The Ukrainian Week speaks to Volodymyr Vasylenko, expert in international law and former Ambassador of Ukraine, about Viktor Yanukovych’s responsibility for crimes against Ukrainian people, grounds for prosecution by the International Criminal Court in Hague and actual assistance the West can provide to Ukraine today

Opposition leaders and Viktor Yanukovych signed the Agreement to Regulate the Crisis in Ukraine at the Presidential Administration on February 21. The text has been promulgated by the President's press-service

On February 19, the US imposed visa bans on senior Ukrainian government officials believed to be responsible for a violent crackdown by riot police against protesters, a senior State Department official said, as quoted by Reuters

President Viktor Yanukovych fires Volodymyr Zamana, Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Headquarters, and appointed him as National Defence and Security Council Deputy Secreatary, decrees posted on his official website say

The EU will work using all of its opportunities to find a political solution to the crisis in Ukraine which involves serious discussion of amendments to the Constitution, among other things, Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier says before the meeting of the EU Council of Foreign Ministers that took place in Brussels today

Arseniy Yatseniuk, the leader of Batkivshchyna, is ready to become premier provided that the Parliament returns the 2004 Constitution and the Cabinet of Ministers is formed by the opposition, he says in an interview for Deutsche Welle

The Ukrainian State was the impossible dream of grandparents and something the parents sacrificed their lives and comfort for. For the Ukrainian leadership, it is nothing but a temporary resource of personal wealth

US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt: “The situation today is not hopeless, but it requires tough decisions from the Ukrainian Government regarding a number of issues, which have been put off for far too long”

A delegation from the European Parliament will visit Ukraine on January 28–30 to examine the situation surrounding the EuroMaidan first-hand. Meetings are planned with the Ukrainian leadership, opposition representatives and,k first and foremost, with the Presidium of the EuroMaidan

Appeals for targeted sanctions against Ukrainian officials responsible for the violent crackdown of peaceful demonstrations and the use of force and persecution against journalists and protesters figure high in the messages of Ukrainian opposition, civil society and protesters of EuroMaidan to the West, in particular to the U.S. and to the EU. Apart from Yanukovych, his family members and state officials, the protesters call on the West to include business elites, so called oligarchs, supporting Yanukovych’s regime in the list of sanctioned individuals.

Putin cannot be faulted for skillfully pursuing his interpretation of Russian interests. The blame for the outcome in Ukraine falls squarely on the EU’s leaders, because if Ukraine does lose its independence in one way or another, European security will be at risk – a risk nowhere more keenly felt than in Poland and the Baltic states, Joschka Fischer, german Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor from 1998-2005, says in his article for Project Syndicate.

“The Moscow deal further reduces Ukrainian room for maneuver in its foreign and internal policies. Russian loan and cheaper gas price will allow Ukrainian government to freeze major problems in Ukrainian economy until 2015 elections but it is not a support which can solve growing economic instability,” says Wojciech Kononczuk, Head of Department for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova at the OSW (Centre for Eastern Studies) think-tank, in his comment for The Ukrainian Week

“The Euro Revolution and the Yanukovych regime’s shameful deal with Putin’s Russia are as momentous conceptually as they are politically, requiring a new way of thinking about what has transpired in Ukraine and how Ukraine may be best understood,” Alexander Motyl, American historian and professor of Political Science at Rutgers University, notes in his blog on The World Affairs Journal.

The European Union is not prepared to get into a bidding war with Russia for Ukraine. But it appears that the attraction of European living standards, rule of law and democracy remain strong with Ukrainians, particularly the young. Mr. Putin's Russia offers nothing that can compete with that.

On December 17, 2013 Yanukovych annulled Ukraine as an independent entity, as a full-fledged participant in international politics, and put all international level decisions that concern Ukraine in the hands of Vladimir Putin, Yulia Tymoshenko says in her statement regarding the events in Moscow on December 17.

Thus far the U.S. reaction to the Ukrainian upheaval has been subdued, as the Obama administration evidently fears alienating Russia, which it needs to pursue its Middle East policies. It is time for the White House to specify its options, as Ukraine stands on the brink of outright conflict

Oleksandr Popov, Head of Kyiv City State Administration, and Volodymyr Sivkovych, Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, are fired upon request from Prosecutor General. They are suspected of violation of citizens’ constitutional rights at Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) at night of November 30

As President Yanukovych’s team is dawdling with the solution of the political crisis in Ukraine, it is trying to get the most out of his defeat, comments Viktor Nebozhenko, President of the Ukrainian Barometer think tank

The people on Maidan were defending something far greater than an association agreement with the EU. They were standing in the way of a police state, defending fundamental European values and defying the post-Soviet order imposed by Russia, The Economist writes

The disruption of association with the EU revealed two crucial things. One - Ukraine has proven incapable of acting as an independent state. Two - European and American policies in Eastern Europe failed because rhetoric was the only thing confronting Putin’s pressure.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich sounded deadly serious during a passionate speech he gave on his administration’s commitment to fighting corruption on Wednesday, however he forgot to mention the missed opportunity to put words on paper in a memorandum of understanding to fight corruption with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Mark Rachkevych in his article for The Financial Times reports.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was scheduled to meet with Russia’s Vladimir Putin at the meeting of CIS presidents in Minsk on October 24-25. This meeting was scheduled. Instead, Yanukovych met with Putin in Sochi on October 27. The results of this meeting have not been disclosed.

Having made their fortunes in the chaotic and lawless privatisation of the 1990s, they are now looking for the rule of law and property rights which can be provided to them by the EU, The Economist claims.

It is unknown whether ex-premier Tymoshenko now wishes she had left Ukraine shortly after she faced criminal cases as advised by her family and close allies. It is almost sure, though, that President Yanukovych wishes she had.Reported by Oleksandr Mykhelson

Despite Viktor Yanukovych’s fear of Yulia Tymoshenko, whom he evidently considers his main political rival, he may agree to let her receive medical treatment in Germany. On one hand, this would sharply increase the regime’s chances of signing an Association Agreement with the EU, while on the other, it would create new obstacles for the opposition

Officials use the excess of Viktor Yanukovych portraits as a means to pointedly demonstrate the heightened loyalty to the President in order to disguise their “corruptive nature.” Political scientist Viktor Nebozhenko told this in a comment to Tyzhden.ua

As deadlines near on the future of Ukraine's ties with Europe, President Viktor Yanukovich is under pressure to put aside personal animosity and let his jailed opponent, Yulia Tymoshenko, go to Germany for medical treatment, Reuters reports.

Over three and a half years under the Yanukovych regime, the number of protests has grown from 2,305 in 2010 to 3,636 in 2012. They now cover a wider territory and have grown more radical, The Ukrainian Week writes in the article titled Will Ukraine Rise? in the upcoming issue due after July 18

Premiership with extended powers for Viktor Yanukovych may well be an alternative to the “victory at any price” in the 2015 presidential race. Read a detailed report in the article Operation Premier Yanukovych in the upcoming issue of The Ukrainian Week out on July 18

On June 3, Viktor Yanukovych submitted a proposal to dismiss Head of the Central Election Committee (CEC), Volodymyr Shapoval, early after he reached the retirement age of 65. The President recommended Oleksandr Kopylenko to replace Shapoval as CEC member. According to Kommersant Ukraine, based on its sources, CEC member Mykhailo Okhendovskyi and CEC Secretary Tetiana Lukash are the likeliest candidates to replace Shapoval as CEC Head. Both vote in line with the Party of Regions.

Swedish economist and a senior fellow at the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics, Andres Aslund believes that the time of financial crisis is the best time for Ukraine to implement economic reforms.

On May 26, Viktor Yanukovych visited Russia and met with Vladimir Putin. No official statements or agreements were disclosed subsequently. Earlier, the media reported that Yanukovych has a meeting with the Customs Union member-state leaders in Astana scheduled for May 28-29 under the framework of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, and the memorandum on Ukraine’s status as an observer in the Customs Union could be signed at the next meeting of EurAsEC member-state leaders.

Trying to win next presidential elections Victor Yanukovych could divide and destroy Ukraine, Alexander Motyl, American historian and professor of Political Science at Rutgers University, notes in his blog on The World Affairs Journal.

Yuriy Lutsenko is going to create a new political project. The question is whether he will make the same mistakes as were made during the launch of People’s Self-Defence and whether the new organization will be constructed to serve the interests of Petro Poroshenko

“Despite winning rare praise from the West for freeing an opponent from jail, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich is likely to resist extra pressure and the lure of trade deals to release his fiercest rival, ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko,” writes Reuters.

For Yanukovych, the advantages of good PR do not outweigh the discomfort associated with ruining his ostrich-leather shoes, American historian and professor of Political Science at Rutgers University, writes in his blog on The World Affairs Journal.

“The failure of Western governments to achieve their goals in Tymoshenko’s case corroborates a hypothesis about the limits of the EU’s democratic conditionality in relations with authoritarian states,” Serhiy Kudelia, assistant professor of political science at Baylor University, writes in his article for Problems of Post-Communism magazine.

“A return to the presidential system, coupled with a stable and disciplined parliamentary majority, has given President Viktor Yanukovych unprecedented political powers,” write political analysts Sławomir Matuszak and Arkadiusz Sarna in their report From stabilisation to stagnation. Viktor Yanukovych's reforms.

“The president Viktor Yanukovych Family seems to be following the principle of “more for me” in managing the state and economy,” write Jana Kobzova, policy fellow and programme coordinator at the European Council on Foreign Relations and Balazs Jarabik, an associate fellow at FRIDE and the Central European Policy Institute, on their article for ECFR The EU's relationship with Ukraine: fling or partnership?

On May 16, Ukrainian filmmaker currently jailed in Russia as a political prisoner went on a hunger strike. In a public letter he wrote that he would only stop the strike if all 64 Ukrainian prisoners jailed in Russia for politically-motivated grounds are released

The opposition in Ukraine is mostly reactive and it chooses actions that will be most useful for criticizing the current Administration or gaining the attention of a specific part of the electorate. What Ukraine needs most right now is a consolidating program and a party that could present its own alternative for the country